Friday, April 6, 2012

Thanks for the congratulations everyone. I’m still smiling from ear to ear. A year ago, Farworld was in limbo and I’d never imagined I would soon be signing a national contract.
Now, I have a great new series coming out with Harper, and Farworld is going to be finished. (Not to mention my time-travel series with Deseret Book.) If you see a crazy-looking author dancing and singing in the street, that would be me. I don’t know how I got this lucky. But I’ll take it.
As a reward for all of you who have waited so patiently for the next Farworld book, Shadow Mountain has agreed to let me publish one chapter a month until Air Keep’s release. First, just a couple of cautions, then we’ll get to the good stuff.
Until it is actually sent to the printers, any book is constantly a work in progress. Editing takes place. Chapters move around. Entire storylines come and go. Basically, what I am saying is that what you read here may be not be exactly the same when the book comes out. Theoretically, what you read here might not make the final cut at all.
Normally a publisher doesn’t release chapters until the story is set in stone. But you know what? You all are so awesome and have been so patient, we’re willing to take the risk. I’ll post the chapters as they come out of my brain (with a little editing help from my friends) and hopefully you’ll enjoy them. There will probably be a few typos, but I trust you can overlook them.
Occasionally I may add some author notes along the way. So here goes. Enjoy.
[Author’s note: As in Land Keep, Air Keep will be divided into four parts. Each part will begin with an interlude. This is the interlude to Part I]

Interlude

Jaklah was thinking about water. Filling his mouth. Running down his parched throat. Splashing over his sunburned face and dripping from his hair. Unlike the small supply of warm, dusty liquid sloshing is his waterskin, the water in his imagination was fresh and so cold the very thought of it brought goose bumps to the backs of his arms and cramped his stomach.

Thursday, April 5, 2012

No one ever said the publishing world moves quickly. And patience is a virtue most authors do not possess. But it has moved and I am so excited to make this announcement!

Ladies and gentlemen (and all the rest of us goofballs), Farworld is back!!!!

Still working out the finer points, but here’s what I can tell you. Shadow Mountain has agreed to publish the last three books of the Farworld series: Air Keep, Fire Keep, and Shadow Keep in hardback with the same amazing artist who did the first two books.

They will also be releasing books 1 and 2 in paperback at about the same time.

Right now, it’s looking like Air Keep will be released in late February. That’s perfect, because my new Harper series, Case File 13 will be coming out sometime between Christmas of this year and New Years. Books 4 and 5 of the Farworld series will probably come out about the same time in 2014 and 2015.

In addition, Shadow Mountain will be sending me out to visit schools, not just in Utah, but across the US.

I can’t tell you how happy I am to make this announcement. I have been in love with the Farworld story ever since it came into my head one night shortly after James Dashner told me about his series. I am hard at work right now writing Air Keep.

And the final piece of good news is this. Since you have all been so patient, waiting for this book, Shadow Mountain has agreed to let me post not one, two, or even three chapters of this book here on my blog. But ten! One chapter a month right up until the book comes out.

Tomorrow I will post the first chapter and then every month I will post another one. Hopefully that will help the wait for book three not be quite as terrible.

Also, I’ve seen a rough cover sketch for the Air Keep cover, and it is beyond awesome. The best one yet in my opinion.

Thanks Shadow Mountain for making this possible. Thanks to my writing group for encouraging me not to give up when it looked like the last three books might never happen. And most of all, thanks to you, my loyal readers. I get e-mails almost every day from people asking about book 3. Thanks for not giving up on me or the series. You all rock!

J Scott Savage is a the author of the Farworld MG fantasy series, the Case File 13 series, and the new middle grade steampunk dragon series, Mysteries of Cove. He is represented by Michael Bourret of DGLM.